A total of 42. 35 of which that came in the first ten weeks compared to just seven over the last seven. From that aspect, it’s encouraging.

To break it down a little bit further, the number of blockers and rushers on the sacks allowed for the year. Number of Steelers’ blockers on the left and the number of rushers on the right below.

Five vs Four: 11

Six vs Five: 9

Five + block/release vs Four: 7

Six Block vs Four: 4

Six vs Six: 4

Seven vs Six: 2

Eight Block vs Eight rushing: 1

Seven vs Five: 1

Five vs Six: 1

Eight vs Five: 1

Six + block/release vs five: 1

An amazing 36 sacks occurred despite the Steelers keeping in more blockers than what was rushed. A troubling statistic.

One area I’ve kept an eye on all season long are the Steelers issue in picking up simple T/E (tackle/end) stunts. A quick count shows that eight sacks were the result of mental lapses in picking up simple defensive stunts. This doesn’t even count the sacks where the stunt was picked up and the lineman was still beat. Nearly 20% of the team’s sacks that were pure mental errors. Even more troubling.

Just a total of 20 infractions, or an average of 1.18 per game. Lot of credit to Foster, Velasco, and DeCastro who all played well over 700 snaps and had just one penalty.

It’s a stat that is not relative to anything so impossible to say how it ranks among the league but you have to figure it’s one of the better numbers. A big reason why the team was one of the least penalized in the league (80 – tied for 5th best).

Thanks Alex, hopefully those numbers in the second half are beginning of a new trend. I would be curious to how those second half numbers stack up compared to other teams.Happy New Year

lefnor

Thnak you for the season-long posts!

Callentown

Honestly don’t know if I can ever forgive DeCastro for the worst missed block/ending of Pouncey’s season.

Rick M

A great re-cap, thanks. Why do you feel there was such a great improvement in the second half of the season? They seemingly learned how to recognize stunts better and they likely were more familiar with each other and had better communication.

But did the no-huddle offence also have an effect (i.e. in limiting sacks). They certainly ran a lot more of it in the second half of the season and their ‘sacks allowed’ totals plummeted. I’m just curious as to what your thoughts are about primary reasons, given the great disparity between the first and second half (of the season) stats.

dennisdoubleday

How does this align with Dave’s earlier post, which assigned blame for only 2 sacks to Beachum?

JohnB

Foster is the man.

Chris S

Before Beachum was placed as the starting LT he did step in and play other positions (C, etc)…also I can’t remember but wasn’t he the “extra TE” before Adams was? So those other 5 probably came before he was the LT.

Alex Kozora

Dennis, Dave was referencing what Beachum allowed over the final seven games. Not the entire season. And by my count, I only have Beachum as responsible for one sack the final 7 weeks. Either way, excellent play.

ND_Steel

Pass blocking was much improved by the second half. Run blocking was marginally improved led by the TE play of Miller and Spaeth the last few games. O linemen need to be able to get to the second level more consistently and hold their blocks. This will likely be our line again next year, adding maybe a late rounder for some depth/development at tackle. Who knows, if Adams doesn’t get stabbed again, Beachum keeps working hard, DeCastro puts on a little beef and Pouncey comes back strong, could be a strong front next year.

WilliamSekinger

Gilbert has some work to do. I expect Adams to push him for the starting RT in camp.

Chad H

Get over it shit happens. Look forward to how well the o line played during the second half of the season.

Chad H

Agree about Gilbert. The only thing Adams will be pushing is grocery carts. Sorry he is not athletic enough.

WilliamSekinger

Eh, Adams played well at RT last year. Adams isn’t going anywhere.

Robert Alaniz

I don’t think so, He was a road grader at R/T Gilbert was inconsistent and look at the mistakes he has made versus the other guys.

I wont even mention Gilbert coming in CBA shape and collapsing just trying to pass a basic conditioning test.

If the put Mike Adams at right tackle where he belongs, its going to be Gilbert pushing grocery carts.

Callentown

Nah that horrible play – I’m guessing the worst play by any O-lineman this season – showed serious inadequacies in his ability to play at this level.

Now let’s see how many thumbs down I get. lol

Alex Kozora

Probably just repping it more as a unit. Especially with the mental stuff. Lot of issues along the line were mental and scheme. Not as much physical. Just keep practicing, watching it on film, learning from mistakes, before it finally clicks.

steeltown

Just further verifies the fact that DeCastro and Foster are playing good ball.. we are set at the interior positions

Alex Kozora

Do want to add a side note that sacks allowed are not the end-all in discussing how good a lineman is. Kelvin Beachum is much better than his 7 sacks allowed indicate. But it’s another number that can be used for discussions.

Reader783

You’re looking for thumbs down man. You know that you’re overreacting. Relax. He’s better than half the guards in the league.

Callentown

Perhaps. Personally, I’m skeptical about the entire line.

Tackles are incredibly weak.

Guards have not shown they can create a run game – see season ending run stats rank = # 28 overall and #30 in yards per attempt.

Then, add in the inability to stay healthy and it seems like a problem across the board to me at this point in time.

Callentown

As far as I’m concerned, they’re both wiffs and should be working at the same store 😉 Neither can pass block worth a dang.